UK ISPs Breathe A Sigh Of Relief

Despite the Despite dire rumblings about an upcoming "Piracy Tax" on British ISPs, the government has said there will be no such thing

Lord Carter's Digital Britain report contained a proposal to make ISPs directly responsible for copyright infringement, which would've sent ISP rates skyrocketing just as the government is trying to get Britain hooked up to broadband.

But according to LINX's head of public affairs, Malcom Hutty, "The threats are off the table. The government has recognized that the principle responsibility for protecting their own property lies with the music industry. The ISPs duty is to co-operate. It's not ISPs' responsibility to solve the music industry's problems completely."

LINX is the co-operatively owned internet backbone exchange.

Under the newly proposed framework, copyright holders will need to collect the IPs of infringers themselves and notify the ISP. The ISPs will log the complaint and after a specified number, will pass the details of the infringer to the copyright holders, who can then issue a summons.

Of course, this only works on static IP addresses, of which there are very few.

With the Piracy Tax down in flames, how about the Rights Agency quango that was supposed to fight pirates? Very little support has been given and a lot of confused ideas, means that it's doubtful it will continue.

Digital Britain is still looking very analog, but at least your ISP rates won't soar.